IMBC 2014: Speaker urges better business narratives

Best-selling author and motivational speaker Steve Donahue opened the 12th annual International Marina & Boatyard Conference in Fort Lauderdale today by urging conferees to change their story if they want to change their business.

"Our stories create and perpetuate our reality," said Donahue, the author of "Shifting Sands: A Guidebook for Crossing the Deserts of Change." "That's why people and businesses poke along with the same result. Their stories never change."

Donahue said there are three storylines a business owner should look at: the story you tell yourself about yourself; the story you tell others about yourself (how you are unique); and the story that others (your customers) tell you about yourself and your business.

This year's conference at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center has some new features, Association of Marina Industries president emeritus Jim Frye said. Among them are an engineering program for the engineers among AMI's membership; a roundtable discussion about the keynote address; a "graphic recorder" who draws images of presenters' talks on a picture board; and requests that conferees describe the issues they are most interested or concerned about.

Attendance at this year's program is up 10 to 15 percent from last year, AMI executive director Mark Amaral said.